Georgetown, Guyana – Newly-appointed Guyana captain Veerasammy Permaul insisted that his team will be “at their very best” when they play in the Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament next month.
The recently-minted West Indies left-arm spinner said that the talk in the camp was about a repeat of two years ago, when they won the inaugural tournament with a thrilling defeat of Barbados in the Final at Queen’s Park Oval, where the first half of next year’s tournament will be staged.
“It will require a total team effort,” he said. “It’s a really big tournament and we want to do well all-round.
“We have to perform at all levels. We have some very experienced batsmen – who we all know are capable match-winners. Our bowling is solid, and once we can restrict teams, we can chase down totals.”
Permaul added: “We are looking to win. There is no doubt about that. We have to go into the tournament thinking that we are capable of winning.
“We will have to be at our very best, but we know we have the players who can deliver when it matters. I expect the very best from every man.”
Guyana’s batting is led by durable West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who at age 38. Alongside him are former West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, who will bring experience and skill to the batting line-up.
They are backed by left-handers Narsingh Deonarine and Leon Johnson, as well as a revitalised Jonathan Foo, who will look to repeat his heroics of 2010.
Permaul will lead Guyana’s bowling attack, which also includes leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, who won the ICC Emerging Player-of-the-Year award last year, as well as all-rounders Christopher Barnwell and Steven Jacobs.
After the celebrations two years ago, the Guyanese have struggled. They failed to reach the Final Four last year, and were again booted out at the preliminary stage last year when they managed just two wins out of four matches.
“We have to play what we know and what brought us success before,” said Permaul. “We have an experienced team and, as always, we want to do the people proud. They deserve the very best from us.”
Permaul has a good record as captain having led the West Indies A-Team to a series win against India-A in the Caribbean earlier this year.
He said he wanted to play a major role in taking Guyana to success and felt he was bowling reasonably well and was working hard on his batting technique.
“I don’t plan to do anything spectacular, just do the simple, basic things that have worked time and time again,” he said.
“The key to my bowling is accuracy and consistency. I look to build pressure on the batsmen and try to force them to make the mistake. I’m not a big spinner of the ball so I have to aim to work people out and make them play into my hands.”
He said: “I work really hard. It’s the only way I know how. I’m not one of the ones where people would say ‘has natural talent’ and I’m not ‘flashy’.
“I like the training and I like going into the nets and working on new things. It is the way I have always been and I enjoy doing it that way.”
Guyana will open their campaign against Combined Campuses & Colleges under the lights on January 7 at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
